


Keeping the Price of Kanakan Liquor Down

by Team_Two_Cats



Series: Suikovember 2020 [3]
Category: Suikoden IV, Suikoden Series (Video Games)
Genre: Adoption, F/M, Healing Through Assassination, happy endings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:07:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27629281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team_Two_Cats/pseuds/Team_Two_Cats
Summary: Suikovember 2020 day 19 prompt: Plotting*Major Spoilers*Set after Suikoden IV, Eleanor and Graham live on Kanakan raising adopted daughters. With them, though, there's always a plot. Always a plan. Even when it hurts.
Relationships: Eleanor Silverberg/Graham Cray
Series: Suikovember 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019115





	Keeping the Price of Kanakan Liquor Down

“Look closer, Leona,” Eleanor says, pointing at the maps. “Take me through it again.”

The girl rolls her eyes, and Eleanor thinks about the bottle of liquor in the kitchen. Her mouth is dry, her throat scratchy. She can feel the slight sweat on her palms, but she holds back. She’s cutting back, she tells herself.

“The Sacrlet Moon Empire has been looking to Kanakan for years,” Leona says. “The current emperor is something of a souse, and he pays an emperor’s ransom for the liquor from Kanakan, and he’d much rather just take the island and build a second home there and settle things that way.”

“But…” Eleanor prods.

“But the Kooluk are a force to be reckoned with and would take kindly to the invasion of so close a neighbor. Or they _were_ a force to be reckoned with, but their current internal conflict have drawn their attention inward.”

“Go on,” Eleanor says, though she can’t help feel a bit of pride, watching the girl work. She…never wanted kids. Exactly. Had always resisted adding to the grand Silverberg legacy. And a part of her feels bad, using orphans from the war in this way, even as the other part of her knows that this is a much better life these children will have, now. Even as a deeper part of her knows that her love for them would make her do almost anything to ensure their comfort, security, and happiness.

“The armies have been amassing along the southern coast of the empire, near the ruins at Pannu Yakuta. Kanakan has reached out for aid from the Island Nations, but it’s doubtful the fledgling power would want to get involved or would make that much of a difference if they did.”

“You don’t think that’s a bit harsh?” Eleanor asks. “After all, the Island Nations have done a lot in a short amount of time.”

“Rumor has it they’re also stretched thin, and that their best fighters are also involved in the intrigues in Kooluk. Though their tacticians are…well trained, they lack the vision to think and act truly internationally.”

Eleanor winces. Not a direct criticism, but certainly Leona isn’t that impressed with Tonya or Agnes. Not that Agnes stuck around. She’s back in Scarlet Moon. Perhaps even with Eleanor’s brother and nephews. Knowing them, though, they’ll have nothing to do with a pupil of their disgraced former matriarch. At least, not knowingly, and Agnes is too honest for her own good.

“Then, your plan?”

“The thing about the invasion force is that they are made up mainly of humans from the capital in Gregminster and the surrounding area, with back up from the navy. Humans are vastly over-represented, and yet the southern parts of the empire are among the most diverse, with elf, dwarf, and kobold populations the overwhelming majority. Racial tensions are no doubt already high as the invasion force draws resources from the non-human populations that are only nominally part of Scarlet Moon.”

Leona points out the various powers on the map and Eleanor nods. She can see where this is going and it’s with a mix of pride and sorrow that she follows along.

“It would be an easy thing to organize a raid or two on the army’s supply, either using seditious elements from the non-human populations, or making it seem like they’re responsible. Internal conflicts, perhaps outright fighting, would redirect the invasion force and weaken the empire enough for Kanakan to remain unmolested, at least until the Kooluk regain some stability and the Island Nations could take a more…mediative stance.”

An elegant solution with minimal loss of life. At least, on the outside. “Primary risks?”

“That the empire would react…overzealously with the non-human populations,” Leona says. “There’s little love lost between them, and the current emperor is known for, aside from his delight in drinking, a certain broad-ranging xenophobia. If he were frustrated by the prospect of losing Kanakan, he might take out his anger on the non-human populations.”

“So the risk is…”

“Genocide,” Leona finishes. The silence that hangs between them is heavy. Leona works her bottom lip with her teeth, a tell that Eleanor will have to break her of. “But…”

Eleanor sees the spark in her eyes, the spark that tells her Leona has it. The spark that she should fear, because it means that this girl, at fifteen, is ready. Ready for everything Eleanor has planned for her. And…after only four years, Eleanor had…hoped for more time.

“But the imperial heir is a much more generous and level-headed young man,” she says. “And rumor has it he’s…intimate with the young admiral of the navy. The two were fostered together. Neither has a great love of the current emperor, though of course the prince would never take action again his father.”

“And why is this all important?” Eleanor asks.

“Because part of the emperor’s drinking problem is to treat pain from a certain disease, on that’s been having a degenerative effect on his rule. His doctor just so happens to be the father of the admiral, and a kind hearted man by all accounts. If he knew that the emperor planned to use his son, who is currently technically in charge of the invasion force, to commit genocide, he could likely be persuaded to…ease the transition of power to the imperial heir. Even if the prince suspected that the doctor was behind his father’s sudden death, would he really turn on a man who has been so important in his life? The father of his closest…friend?”

And there it is. Eleanor leans back and nods. “Good,” Eleanor says.

Leona beams, looks ready to say something, but noise from the door shifts both their attentions. Graham and Matti enter, carrying wood from outside.

“Oh, and what are you two plotting?” Graham asks, chuckling.

Eleanor wants to be too old to blush like a maid. But his voice, those eyes… She smiles, and waits for him to put down the wood by the hearth and come over to kiss her.

“Ewww,” Matti says.

Eleanor snorts. “Don’t knock it until you try it,” she says.

Matti makes a disgusted face, though Leona colors a bit. Despite the way she’s been practicing hiding her emotions, she can’t hide everything. Eleanor knows the two girls have something. Something she’s going to exploit. And the need for a drink finally grows too strong.

“Bring me my bottle, will you,” she purrs to Graham. A worry passes across his face a moment, but he looks her in the eyes, and she can tell he understands. He doesn’t want to let them go, either. But the time is coming. He goes to the kitchen and brings back the bottle and two glasses.

“Thought you hated the stuff?” she asks as he pours and takes one of the glasses for himself, then returns the bottle to the kitchen. Bastard. He knows that if he leaves it she’ll just finish it all now. What has she ever done to deserve someone who cares about her like that?

“I have been growing to appreciate certain aspects of it,” he says, and returns to kiss her again. “After all, I taste it all the time. Perhaps you’ve just conditioned me to associate it with something…good.”

Eleanor barks a laugh and Matti and Leona both make faces this time.

“I’ll have to be careful of that mouth of yours,” she says, and the grin he gives her is downright devilish.

“You certainly will,” he says.

“O- _kay_ ,” Matti says. “Can you pause the old person seduction talk until your young wards are _not_ in the same room. Or, like, the same continent.”

And that brings Eleanor slamming back to the present. To the plan, which she’s not entirely she can go through with. But she has to. No one else seems at all able to. Certainly not her brother or nephews. And someone has to make sure the world doesn’t go to utter hell.

“I think we need to talk about that, actually,” she says.

Graham looks at her, and it’s a hurt that she doesn’t want to see, that she can’t afford to sooth.

“I…wish there was more time, but with everything…I think it’s time we talk about your futures.”

Futures that would include travel to Scarlet Moon. Chance encounters with her nephews. Marriages into the Silverberg house. And power, through their husbands and in their own right. As Silverbergs proper, and not just the adopted daughters of the disgraced black sheep. Eleanor downs the glass of liquor in one go and curses Graham not leaving the bottle. She never expected this to be so…hard.

But she has to remain strong. The girls will be alive, and in incredibly good positions. In the same house. If they’re careful, they can still be together. And they can ensure that no great conflicts shatter the delicate peace of the continent. She has to be remain strong.

She looks up at Graham, and sees that hurt again, knows that it must be reflected in her eyes, too. So much, the world has taken from them. But that doesn’t mean they’re done. There are always more orphans, even in a place like Kanakan. Their home can stay full. Of life. Love. As long as they hold to each other. Now, after everything. As long as they make each other better than their worst selves.

She looks at their daughters, waiting to hear what’s in store for them. But oh, it hurts to love. A beautiful, terrible pain. One she wouldn’t trade for anything, not all the liquor in Kanakan.

**Author's Note:**

> I was never convinced at the end of Suikoden IV that Eleanor and Graham died. There's just something in the way Eleanor spoke. She had to have a plan. A way out. She spoke of needing to train Graham over again. And even he, for all the terrible shit he's done, is a grieving father mostly trying to reconnect with the memories of his son. Memories that he's lost. So here I wrote them the happy ending they didn't officially get. Where they can heal a bit. And still try and shape the world how they want. Hopefully it's all right.


End file.
